Working World

As we ride out this economic downturn, how can we average working folks, who don’t have golden parachutes from our employer or bailouts from Uncle Sam, strengthen our personal economic situation for ourselves and our family?

One answer that has benefited working people for generations is education. Education, of all kinds, has been a reliable engine for success by creating opportunities and putting the “impossible” within reach. And the kind of education most directly relevant to getting jobs and creating careers is vocational-technical training — training that upgrades or offers job skills in a particular trade, occupation or profession. Vocational-technical training offers the fastest turnaround from classroom to workplace, from new skills to paychecks.

Anyone can benefit
There are hundreds of promising occupations out there that you may not have thought of for people of every interest and aptitude. Vocational schools offer the high school graduate — as well as people who haven’t yet finished high school — practical, occupation-specific training.

The setting is community colleges, trade schools, technical institutes, and junior colleges, some of them public, some private. And, of course, your own living room through online vocational training.

Vocational-technical training:
• gives the person still in high school, or who recently graduated, the training and guidance they need to enter the working world.
• offers continuing education programs to help people remain qualified as job demands change.
• helps the unemployed person, both adult and school age, find work.
• retrains the person who’s been laid off or displaced by new technology.
• prepares entry-level and experienced workers to take advantage of exciting new industries.
• helps the person who wants to change careers and transition to a new occupation.

Once you’ve decided on a field, make a list of schools and institutes that offer training in that occupation. Check this site for relevant programs.

Get value for your dollar
Call or e-mail any school that interests you and request their basic information package, literature and catalog. Most vocational schools have a website; you can visit it from home or, if you’re not online, your local library will probably have computers the public can use at no cost.

Since vocational training takes an investment of cold cash and hard work, you want to ask some hard questions of any school you’re considering.

• Are the school’s programs accredited? In many fields and industries, accrediting organizations set uniform standards of training. Look for that organization’s seal of approval; it means the school meets their standards.

• Will the school help you get certified or licensed? In some fields you can’t work unless you’ve passed special licensing exams. In other occupations certification may be optional, but it’s still worth getting because it gives you a competitive edge when you’re applying for a job, especially at the entry level. Find out the requirements in your field.

• Does the school offer financial aid to students? Many vocational schools do. Get the details and compare aid packages.

• What is its reputation? Many people learn about vocational training schools by word of mouth, from friends, relatives, neighbors or coworkers. You particularly want to hear the impressions of anyone who actually attended that school.

• How good are the teachers? Do they have solid professional experience? What kind of accreditation do the instructors have? Do they go out of their way to help their students succeed?

If your contact is a grad, ask them, “When you actually went for, or got, a job in that field, was the training you got in school useful and up-to-date?”

• Check out the school’s facilities. Call ahead or, better yet, pay a surprise visit. Ask them to show you around classrooms, labs, shops, and libraries. Does their equipment look up-to-date? Does the school look well-maintained and modern? What’s the vibe in the halls? Do the students look enthusiastic and focused or stressed and depressed?

• Don't be shy about asking the school for the name, phone number and email address of a few recent grads. A good school will be proud to refer you to a few of its “satisfied customers.”

The boss knows best
The gold standard for quality ratings of competing schools are the employers who hire vocational school graduates. Graduates from the best schools are sure to be in greater demand, and get jobs faster, than grads of schools with so-so reputations among employers.

Why not call a few employers and ask to speak with the person who hires people with your job description.

Be upfront. “I’m very interested in a career in this field. Right now, I’m checking out vocational schools. Naturally, I want the best training I can get. In your experience, which schools turn out the best-trained graduates, the kind of people you’re eager to hire?”

While chatting with an employer, ask them what the job market is like. Business may have been great a couple of years ago, but tight now. Why spend time and money preparing for a job for which there is little or no demand?

Does the program help you land a job?
You’re going to be training hard for months, maybe even a few years, to prepare for your occupation. You want to know how well the school helps its grads find employment. What kind of job placement services does the school offer?

Some examples are:

• help in defining employment objectives and goals
• job listings and postings
• referrals to job openings
• instruction in job search skills
• placement services for entry-level positions
• résumé counseling and critiquing
• practice taking interviews
• preparation filling out job applications
• one-on-one career counseling

Not every school will offer all of the above, but you want to know how much help you can expect.

Times are tough right now — think twice before spending your disposable income or savings on escapes like movies, the fancy hi-def tv, eating out, electronic gadgets, or a get-away in the sun. How much smarter it is to invest your spare cash in vocational-technical training? It will help you become a more desirable employee and build a more secure future.

SIDEBAR

CODE BLUE: NURSES WANTED!

Recession-proof
Whenever the subject of recession-proof occupations comes up, healthcare in all its facets always gets favorable mention. Perhaps because the baby boomers are aging, healthcare is one of the fastest growing job categories.

Hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and HMOs cannot function without their support teams from more than 100 different occupations. And average hourly earnings for health service workers are higher than for workers in other service industries.

Within the healthcare field, no occupation is more in demand than nursing. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 233,000 additional jobs will open for registered nurses each year through 2016, on top of about 2.5 million existing positions. But only about 200,000 candidates passed through the Registered Nurse licensing exam last year, and thousands of nurses leave the profession each year. In short, the nursing industry is desperate to find new hires.

Nursing schools
The dire shortage of nurses means there are quite a few nursing schools out there, both brick-and-mortar and online. Simply do a google search or visit WorkingNurse.com for further information.

Is nursing for you?
What personal qualities or aptitudes will help you grow and flourish in the nursing profession? It’s a little hard to generalize because nursing covers so many situations, challenges and specialities, but, in general, those who will enjoy nursing the most, and succeed at it, will probably have:

• the ability to study, learn and master technical/scientific information, training and equipment. Nursing is, after all, part of the field of medicine.

• a willingness to work hard. The current shortage of nurses can make working conditions demanding and stressful with long hours.

• a willingness to experience, up close and personal, aspects of life that many people don’t want to interact with.

• a heartfelt desire to help people who are suffering from illness or injury. Since the days of Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing, nurses have been known as “angels of mercy.”

Why not start your exploration of nursing as a career in the pages of Working Nurse, a sister publication of Working World. You can find it online at WorkingNurse.com.

Burt Wetanson is a freelance writer who has contributed over 60 articles to Working World. His goal: “to give readers practical tools for success in the tough LA career market.”